The sour economy has put a big damper on O.C.’s cultural scene, and the Laguna Dance Festival felt the pinch – its budget for this year’s shows was less than $25,000 – but you’d never have guessed there was much corner-cutting at Saturday’s gala performance.

Jodie Gates, the festival’s founder and artistic director, assembled a collection of artists and groups that was slightly less impressive than past line-ups but still filled the evening with superb choreography and dancers of the highest caliber.

The full house at Laguna Beach Artists’ Theatre was treated to a sharp-looking company, Philadelphia’s BalletX, that’s new to these parts; Salt Lake City’s Ballet West; a high-energy hip-hop ensemble that goes by the name of Breed; UC Irvine’s Etude Ensemble; aerial dancer Rachel Bowman; an impressive pas de deux from two members of the Sacramento Ballet; and a stunning performance by Tina LeBlanc, recently retired star of the San Francisco Ballet, who performed Lar Lubovitch’s “Funny Valentine” with an able partner, Griff Braun.

As in previous years, Gates’ programming emphasized variety, and there were a few artistic low points as a result.

Bowman’s solo, performed on two long white sashes to an uninspiring pop music score, was an impressive athletic feat but wasn’t at the same level choreographically as the rest of the evening. And unfortunately she molted: white feathers from Bowman’s costume littered the stage for the rest of the second act. Bowman is a former Cirque du Soleil artist, which is a more appropriate venue for the kind of entertainment she performs.

Breed’s “Now” and the UCI Etude Ensemble’s “Shaker Life” (from choreographer Donald McKayle’s “Songs of the Disinherited”) fell into a similar category. Both were large group works that emphasized the joy of movement, sharp-edged, high-velocity unison sections and feats of youthful athleticism. As energy raisers they do a wonderful job, and the auditorium was filled with fans of both groups, but for hard-core dance fans they were the bread in the sandwich.

The highlights of the evening were the pas de deux and the work of the ballet companies.

Ballet West brought Ulysses Dove’s “Red Angels,” an emotionally charged but tightly controlled choreography for two men and two women with an astringent score for electric violin by Richard Einhorn. A late work (it was finished two years before Dove’s death in 1996), it’s more rigorously formal and less overtly passionate than much of his choreography. Dove uses the language of ballet in snippets, pulling his dancers through short, stop-start phrases that are Balanchine-like in their balance of hot emotion and cold precision.

Ballet West dancers Christiana Bennett, Christopher Ruud, Jacqueline Straughan and Michael Bearden know the work thoroughly; their performance was thrilling.

Later in the evening, Ballet West gave us the Black Swan pas de deux from “Swan Lake.” Here, Bennett and Ruud seemed competent but tentative – restricted, perhaps, by the venue’s diminutive stage, much too small for the bravura work that Petipas’ choreography demands.

The Sacramento Ballet was represented by “It’s not a cry,” an achingly beautiful pas de deux distinguished by slow, circling lifts. Its final image was stunning – a gorgeous lift to the dying strains of Jeff Buckley’s take on Leonard Cohen’s ravishing “Hallelujah.” Chloe Felesina and Gabriel Williams were ideally matched partners.

Lubovitch’s choreography, set to Marvin Laird’s fascinating deconstruction of the Rodgers and Hart standard “My Funny Valentine,” is both an analysis of desire and a tribute to the seductive power of a love song. Distinguished by complex floor work and sections of intertwined limbs, Lubovitch’s choreography seems both intimate and familiar, as if perfectly capturing the emotions of a loving couple.

LeBlanc, a tiny and wonderfully precise dancer, shows no signs of the serious injury that sidelined her a few years back. She was, as always, fascinating to watch and supremely expressive. Ruud, a longtime member of Lubovitch’s company, partnered her with dexterity. There wasn’t a single moment of awkwardness in a work that could produce lots of them in lesser dancers.

Gates dared to tackle one of the most daunting works a choreographer could choose: Ravel’s Bolero. How can any group of performers, no matter how large and energetic, match the tantalizingly slow crescendo and massive explosion of Ravel’s masterpiece?

Using only eight BalletX dancers, Gates came close to equaling “Bolero’s” intensity.

Lighting designers Drew Billiau and Michael Korsch provided intense rings of light which defined the dancers’ space at the beginning of the work. Gates, like Ravel, understands the inherent drama of the slow build-up. She placed her dancers upstage, their backs to the audience, in a tight and almost motionless group as the music burbled through its first few moments – an image of constrained but potent power.

As the music built, Gates added complexity, velocity and a touch of mystery – what were those Egyptian-looking hand movements all about? Wraparound lifts, unexpected entrance and exits, and rapidly changing groupings paralleled the music’s rise, giving way to a section that featured three couples (Matthew Prescott and Tara Keating were standouts).

Only at the climax of the work did Gates’ choreography flag a bit – the restricted size of her ensemble and the small stage finally made it impossible to take her movement ideas to the next level. But it was a brave and inventive effort filled with striking imagery and powerful dancing. (I hope that BalletX makes another visit soon.)

Gates seemed tired but triumphant at the party following the performance.

No wonder. This year was an especially trying one for the arts in Orange County and Gates managed to put together an entertaining and artistically fulfilling festival despite the challenges. She deserves a round of kudos. If this is what she can do with a budget that’s probably less than Donald Bren’s monthly spa bill, imagine how the festival will look when times are good.

Paul D. Hodgins has worked at the Orange County Register since 1993. He spent more than two decades as the Register’s theater critic, and for eight years he wrote about dance as well. Hodgins has also written for American Theatre, Variety, The Sondheim Review and Backstage West. He was the principal classical musicr. Hodgins has also been active as an educator and scholar. He was the music director of the dance department at The University of California, Irvine from 1985-92 and served in similar positions at Eastern Michigan University, Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University and the Banff Centre for the Arts. His book about relationships between music and choreography, Music, Movement and Metaphor, was published in 1992. Since 2001 Hodgins has taught arts and entertainment journalism at California State University, Fullerton. Hodgins holds a doctorate in musical composition and theory from the University of Southern California. He lives in Huntington Beach.

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